


Yuletide Treasure

by LassieLowrider



Series: TGS Challenges [2]
Category: The Grand Tour (TV) RPF, Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Fluff, James POV, M/M, Multi, TGS Secret Santa 2017, it's not tgs anymore but hey u know what idgaf, thats my tag and im sticking w it, this thing is cheesier than something very cheesy, wee bit angsty i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 01:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13559856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LassieLowrider/pseuds/LassieLowrider
Summary: Based on two prompts: ("Oh Little Town of..." They're on the road for Christmas, somewhere, and things are a bit different. First time maybe) and ("Deck the Halls" Decorating something for Christmas, whether it's the studio, a house, each other...Fluff and chaos greatly encouraged.)





	Yuletide Treasure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Snowfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowfilly/gifts).



> This is an entirely fictional story, that just so happens to be about people that technically aren’t. DL:DR.

The airport is a riot of bustling activity, but two things stick out the most; Andy, hissing over his phone at someone, trying to find somewhere for the crew to sleep the coming night, and Jeremy, comforting one of the junior sound crew. The girl’s purple hair stands out in vivid contrast to Jeremy’s soft grey pullover, her shoulder’s shaking with barely supressed tears.

“Her gran’s sick, apparently,” Richard says as he sits down, gesturing to the girl with one mug, handing another to James. It’s full of something that barely passes for tea, but it’s better than nothing. They drink their subpar tea in tense silence, a small island of calm in a chaotic sea of stressed, disappointed travellers.

It was something of a Christmas miracle that they’d managed to find lodgings for the entire crew, even if it would be a bit cramped, with as short notice as they’d had, but James was still disappointed. Not that he’d be forced to share with Jeremy and Richard, forced of course being a misgiving word, but that they wouldn’t be home for Christmas.

He had really been looking forward to celebrating together. They had celebrated Christmas together before, but this would have been their first in a home they shared.

Disappointment curling into lead-heavy ball in his stomach, James begs off drinks in the hotel bar in favour of going to bed early. Since it was Andy, one of the few in the know about the trio’s relationship, who had booked the rooms, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see that the only bed in the room is an overly large double.

He doesn’t bother unpacking, instead gets ready for bed in a meandering way, and when he’s done – bedecked in a fresh, white tee-shirt and clean(ish) boxers – he curls up under the covers, as far from the door as he can, back towards it to lessen the risks of getting woken up unnecessarily even more. He’ll certainly get quite a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, the two other louts not likely to join him in bed before they’ve had their fill of drinks and social interaction.

When James next wakes, it’s to the unmistakeable sound of Jeremy and Richard trying to be quiet as they enter the dimly lit room, all light coming from the hallway outside. They both smell of stale beer and staler smoke, but there’s something else, something more than that, that makes James wake up properly.

Outside the window it’s still snowing, now more gently than the wild storm that had caused their flight to be cancelled. James had a feeling that the picturesque little town they were apparently staying in over Christmas was starting to look like something out of a postcard.

The room goes abruptly dark when the door swings shut, and Richard utters a vivid curse under his breath.

“Shhh!” Jeremy hushes him, the noise louder than Richard had been. Going by the sudden, silent stillness, Richard tries to convey that via an unseen glare, too. “You’ll wake him up!”

“I’ll wake him up? What about you, you big oaf?” Richard hisses, and James prays they won’t notice the bed shaking as he laughs. He has a feeling they’ll stop whatever they’re doing if he ‘wakes up’, and now he’s curious what they’re up to.

There’s a dull thud, sounding like a cardboard box being put down on the floor, before a dim light fills the room. Going by the angle, James thinks they’ve opened the bathroom door and flicked on the lamp inside, probably in the hopes of not disturbing him while still getting some light. A warm feeling fills him, and he’s pretty certain that this, this is what love feels like.

“Honestly I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Jeremy grumbles, in that way he has of complaining despite not really being bothered. Complaining just for the sake of it, keeping up appearances – Andy claims he’s been like that since childhood, and James isn’t surprised.

“You’re a regular Scrooge, have some cheer!” Richard’s reply is muffled, sounds like it’s coming from closer to the floor than it usually do, accompanied by something rustling. “Here, put this up around the doorways.”

“How, exactly, am I meant to do that.” Jeremy’s voice is without much in the way of inflection, and James almost chokes on his laughter. It’s the tone Jeremy always pulls out when humouring Richard, despite not being sure it’s a good idea go along with whatever it is.

“You’ve got a roll of tape there.” James can almost hear the negligent wave accompanying the words, just like he can visualise the long-suffering look Jeremy’s wearing.

Jeremy and Richard quiet down, the only sounds being something plastic rustling, and James is certain he’s hearing something jingling. In the peaceful quiet following Richard and Jeremy’s discussion, James almost falls asleep again.

“Hey, can you hold this?” Jeremy asks in a whisper, followed by a soft groan from Richard when he stands up.

“I’m too old to be sitting on the floor,” Richard grumbles softly. “Here good? Also, you know what this reminds me of?”

“Yeah, that’ll do. And if you start singing ‘Deck the Halls’ you can sleep in Andy’s room tonight.” James can hear the shit-eating grin in Richard’s voice when he, instead of singing, starts humming it, the ‘Fa la la la la’ underscored in smugness. Cheered up, despite not actually speaking to his lovers, James drifts off to sleep again, not waking even when Jeremy and Richard finally gets around to going to bed, too.

When James wakes up next, it’s to deep, chainsaw-like snores shaking the bed. Reaching out blindly he finds an arm to swat at, but going by the answering groan he gets after doing so, it’s Richard’s arm. Richard, apparently waking up enough to also take offense at the noise coming from Jeremy, does something that results in Jeremy groaning before turning over to continue sleeping. Since the noise stops, James is well pleased.

Chancing a glance at the clock, he’s shocked to see it’s no later than half past six, and yet the room is dimly lit in stark contrast to the pitch dark outside. The thought wakes him up further.

“What in the name…” The only conclusion James can draw is that either Santa or a department store has vomited Christmas all over their hotel room. The dim lighting is from a small Christmas tree, trimmed with red baubles and tiny, twinkling fairy lights, standing on the desk over a couple of wrapped presents. Around the doorways and the window there’s garlands of fake fir-branches hanging, also trimmed with red baubles.

James twitches, startled, when Richard suddenly leans against him.

“Merry Christmas, James,” Richard murmurs, and when James turns, to look at both Richard and Jeremy, they’re wearing smug smiles and undeniably fond looks in their eyes.

Richard is also wearing a Santa hat, adorned with mistletoe and a fake beard.

What else is James to do but pull him in by the shirt he’s wearing (blue, new, with a ridiculous print of a snowman saying ‘ho ho ho’) and kiss him silly? Well, lean over him, smugly noticing his gobsmacked expression, and do the same to Jeremy, of course.

“How… what? When?” James is aware he’s stuttering, but both Richard and Jeremy look at him so very fondly he can’t bring himself to feel self-conscious about it.

“We found this shop, an ICA?” Richard starts explain, with all the excitement of, well, a kid at Christmas. “They have _everything_ , James, I’m not joking. We bought all of this there! We went out last night, after you’d gone to bed, it can’t have been more than a few blocks.”

“We noticed you were disappointed we wouldn’t be home for Christmas, so we thought we’d bring Christmas to you, instead.” Jeremy sits up, showing that while he had more restraint than Richard in that at least he didn’t wear a Santa hat to bed, he didn’t have enough restraint as to not buy an ugly Christmas shirt. His features a Santa on a rocking horse – reindeer, James corrects himself, after looking a bit closer.

This, James thinks, _this_ is what love feels like. Bringing Christmas cheer to a hotel room in a country quite a bit away from where they’d hoped to be. Yes, he’s really rather grateful for the two idiots he calls his own.

At least he is, until they throw him an ugly Christmas shirt too. Then he’s mostly exasperated (but very much in love, still).

**Author's Note:**

> come find me over @ [Grand-Tourers](http://grand-tourers.tumblr.com)!


End file.
